Somni Yuraisho
by Kohlean
Summary: A three man team from the Village of the Hidden Moon journeys to search for a lost genin.
1. Raika’s Disillusionment

This island used to be magical.

When I was five years old—I still remember—I used to visit the shack of an old man who lived by the river, almost every day. Most of the other kids made fun of him because he was fat and didn't leave the shade of his rotting house very often. But I knew what the adults knew: this gentle man was a Dreamer. The musky smell of the moss that stuffed my lungs, the slippery boards of his porch that made my feet and rear damp as I sat, the chill of the spray that came floating from the gaunt waterfall nearby…none of these things bothered me so long as the Dreamer let me watch.

"Now, little Raika," he would ask me as soon as he'd gotten comfortable. "Are you sure that you want to spend the morning with me?" I never once told him no.

His dreams were a delightful enchantment, and with each poetry lesson I received in the village I became more jealous of the Dreamer's creativity. The places his dreams took me to were beyond my imagination, and far beyond the shores of this island. Once, we rode on great furry beasts of the air that flew us above the cloud banks. Another time, we floated effortlessly on a sea of sunshine, the warm rays caressing our backs. At some point he dreamt a chorus of water spirits, whose song flowed like a calm breeze through my crimson hair.

Even five years after that, I was still too young to understand death. I missed the dreams terribly when the Dreamer died, to be sure, but any sorrow I felt for the old man by the river was overshadowed by every ten-year-old's most anticipated ceremony: the acquisition of a seirei. Mine took the form of a swift and unpredictable golden lizard, probably because of my overactive mind that had become wild in the frenzy of dreams. He became my playful friend in place of the Dreamer, and when I was too tired to chase him through the tall wheat fields outside the village, he would dance in my visions while I napped. My seirei companion was best at encouraging me through my tutoring and in sports; skyball practice became a joy with his support. Sometimes, though, I wish he had been able to comfort and calm me more than he did. Together, we were troublemakers. There are too many incidents involving broken windows than I care to recall.

But my seirei excelled at his primary duty, and really, it's the reason all the villagers had to have them. The spirits warned us of the sudden storms that would barrel over the waters and pummel the island periodically, and these were more dangerous than you might think. The Somni Village sits nestled between two steep mountain ridges—the north and south rises—with a narrow bay at one opening. When a storm hits, the shoreline buildings are evacuated since the swells can flood and tear at the lower section of the village. Beyond that, blasts of wind and water weather the slopes at either edge of the village, often creating horrendous landslides that can bury entire households. I knew a girl from my flute chorus who died that way. So when a seirei feels a shift in the weather, everyone retreats to high ground. Even when I sat frightened in a shelter for hours, my lizard companion had the humor to cheer me up and remind me of my imagination. Sometimes, when a storm would come, I would lay with my father in the dark and listen to the rain outside. It made me think of the water hitting the river by the Dreamer's house, and my seirei and I would relive his reveries.

The most horrible storm came upon our village three years ago. My love for dreams and magic was destroyed that year. That was the year everything changed.

Our seirei companions didn't warn us until the moment it came. Most villagers, myself included, had no time to retreat to the shelters. I was eating dinner when my father took me to the center of our house to wait it out. We sat together, huddled, and in my mind my seirei was unable to provide any comfort. I thought he was as scared as I. My father must not have said much that day, because I remember the utter silence as we waited. It seemed like hours.

Finally, despite my tears, he went to look outside. He came back quickly to get me, and when I emerged I found myself staring at our garden, glowing brightly in the summer sun. But my seirei hadn't lied.

In the main road that bisected the village, crowds stood staring at the bay. I learned later that a foreign boat had found refuge in our harbor just in time, before the storm hit, and it was the boat—or rather its people—that the villagers gaped at. From the arms of its crew bloomed a lavender blanket that stretched into the sky and was as wide as the harbor. Behind its translucent shimmer, we could see the storm. Thick streaks of rain bashed against the alien drape, but to no avail; there was a raging, cold monster that had traveled over the sea, only to be caged here at the entrance to our village. The violent clouds eventually dissipated, and the purple shell that had saved the village slowly shrunk to nothingness.

It took me weeks to accept that what I had seen was not a dream.

In fact, the strangers on the boat did not seem to find the incident particularly extraordinary at all, and certainly did not accept our idea of their abilities as magic. They seemed as curious about our traditions as we were of theirs. Eventually, the village council came to realize that they knew more about us than we did. This revelation shocked the people into a wondrous silence, and when the Rectification Lectures began, everyone was listening. I now loathe the interest I had then.

The boat from across the sea carried a new science. I suppose we'd always taken our Dreamers and our seirei for granted, and what we called our collective mind's eye, they called genjutsu. The chakra theory of energy captured the attention of the village and, I guess I must admit, I found the explanations strangely comforting. When the offer came to ally with and learn from these Konoha nin, as they called themselves, almost everyone was excited at the prospect of controlling the powers that, up until now, we had considered mysterious and fantastical.

After years of rebuilding and reforming the village, I know now the price we've paid. In such a short matter of time, the place in which I spent my childhood is utterly gone. When the council believed that an island so small as ours could have a place in the larger world, a new identity wiped out the old. This is now the Village of the Hidden Moon. With the purple flame to protect us, we no longer fear the storms. I no longer consort with seirei; I practice my genjutsu techniques. The dreams I have while I sleep seem oddly hollow. My father was so proud when I was the only girl among the first students to graduate from the children's academy, but I didn't see it as a victory. To me, it was the point of no return; never again would I be fascinated by the magic of our village.

And now I feel like my existence is suddenly cold. My youthful wonder has been transformed into a meticulous discipline. I wept last night when I realized the voyages that the Dreamer by the river provided me could have been utterly destroyed by a simple _kai_ technique. Tomorrow will be my third mission as a genin. I don't know if I'm going to continue this life. It somehow seems as though I've lost so much.

This island used to be magical.


	2. The Team Forms

Sensei Akita Kokichi established the Hidden Moon Academy to serve all ages, initially, and I'd begun to think that it was a bad idea. I knew it was only fair that everyone should get an opportunity to learn about Konoha jutsu, but there were a few problems that I held immutable. First, the complexity and depth of even second-year lessons staggered my intellect; to be perfectly immodest, that doesn't happen very often. So it occurred to me that the study of ninja arts should be lifelong and begin as early as possible. Kokichi-sama said as much, in fact, during the Lectures: Konoha academy students begin studies as young as four years of age. In other words, older adults simply have no place in the Academy.

The second reason was evident when I was on my way to meet for my third genin mission. I was late, but so was the eldest of my three-man team, who I saw prattling above the Academy's promenade. His name's Juutou Ikidre.

Before going on, I should say that Ikidre was already well known around the village before he graduated as a genin. The Juutou clan itself, in fact, has gained notoriety as the most unceremonious and gruff family on the island. Ikidre might be conscious of it—and he can be reserved and polite, to be fair—but his constant bantering with the opposite sex far outweighs other virtues he might be working on. It would be downright lecherous if he weren't so bad at it.

He was busy ogling a blonde twenty-something—an older academy student—when I stepped onto the catwalk. He was enthusiastically sermonizing about the nuances of summoning jutsu to her, though luckily the lady was only humoring him because she was waiting for her sensei as well. I wasted no time for my intervention, tapping my teammate on the back.

"Oh! Good evening, Raika-chan," said Ikidre. "I was beginning to think no one from our team would show up at all."

He gave me a playful smile. Despite his being three years my elder, I felt like giving him a playful punch in the face. Instead, I grabbed him by the arm and forcibly removed him from the promenade, moving further into the complex and away from the temptress by the entrance.

"We always meet in the classroom," I told him. "Remember something, for once."

"Sorry, I—ow! Okay, you can let go!"

While it's true that I occasionally underestimate my own strength, it's _more _true that Ikidre overestimates his own. The young man was not built for taijutsu, despite being born into a clan that embraced our village's more brutish traditions, such as animal sacrifice. The Juutou were also the island's valuable domesticators, on the other hand, and the natural affinity for beasts was in my teammate's eyes. I wondered whether he thought of himself as rebelling from his family traditions or upholding them. It might have been a matter of both, for he proudly wore the long braids in his bangs that distinguish Somni men; Ikidre's wrapped over his ears and met at the back of his neck in a pretentious display. Unlike the other men, though, the remainder of his black hair was cut short, a defiant style perhaps inspired by the Konoha itinerants.

Our personal itinerant and team sensei was Hagane Kino. The man had an odd disposition, but was generally gentle and patient with our training. He spent more time with our team's third member, Yunemusha Tonbei, since both specialized in genjutsu. This left Ikidre and me to experiment with our own techniques on our own time. Don't think that Kino-sensei was unfair in giving us attention; his efficient teachings were difficult enough to keep up with, since he always seemed to know exactly what next step his student should take. There was little time wasted.

I was surprised and concerned, then, when Ikidre and I came to an empty classroom. Tonbei was late only when he had a good excuse, and Kino-sensei never was.

"Are you sure this is where we're meeting?" Ikidre gave me a critical smirk. My fist started to itch.

"Shut up and wait," I ordered impatiently, keeping up a stern look to hide my concern.

After a few minutes, I could tell that Ikidre was worried as well. He and Tonbei had become good friends, likely because they enjoyed testing my patience with varied mischief. I may have become angered quickly, but I think I was just secretly playing along. The two boys were often laughing, and I admit that I appreciated the camaraderie in the team.

After ten uncomfortably silent minutes, the door to the classroom opened, but it was neither Tonbei nor Kino-sensei who entered. An itinerant nodded to us, thanked us for our patience, and handed me a mission scroll. He explained that it had been sent straight from Akita Kokichi, and was to be completed before dawn. Ikidre and I exchanged looks.

"Where is Kino-sensei and Tonbei?" I demanded.

The increasingly impatient edge in the itinerant's voice belied his apologetic expression. "Kokichi-sama has given your sensei a special mission. Yunemusha Tonbei has been put under probation while we finish performance evaluations."

"What has he done?" Ikidre stepped forward.

"Nothing. Tonbei-kun is not in trouble, and neither are you. I realize it's difficult for a genin to understand, but team balance is incredibly important. Right now, Kokichi-sama is reviewing the rookie teams to see if any rearranging is needed."

I couldn't think of any other genin so skilled in genjutsu as Tonbei was. Both Ikidre and I realized that our third man was practically irreplaceable. As a team, our mixed abilities complemented each other extraordinarily well.

"Kokichi-sama is confident," the itinerant continued, and turned for the door, "that the two of you will be able to complete this mission on your own."

He left it at that, and for a moment the two of us stared at the closing door in dismay. I glanced down at the unopened scroll, gripping it tightly in my fist. Part of me felt like throwing it across the room. It was the part of me that Kino-sensei had encouraged me to rein in, to use only when necessary. I took a slow breath.

"We'd better get straight to the mission," sighed Ikidre, "if it's got to be finished before daybreak."

"We'll get to it," I rumbled, "after we find Tonbei."


	3. The Search for Tonbei

The people of the village began their routine as the light faded, and the moon started to rise over the ocean. Farmers rode to their fields, merchants opened their stores, and cooks warmed their ovens. We passed through the town hastily, catching glimpses of common life in quick succession. Soon we came to the low-lying area that hugged the bay, plagued with the stench of stagnant fish, where Tonbei's family lived. Ikidre led me to the alleyway where we found the door to his house.

I knocked, waited a minute for a response, then knocked again. Ikidre must have thought I was doing something wrong when he added a long series of raps a moment later. When there was still no answer, I threw my hands up.

"They must be out."

"That's impossible!" Ikidre snapped, and he moved to peer into a set of windows. "Tonbei's grandmother is sickly, and never leaves the house. But she would certainly answer the door."

"Maybe she's feeling particularly sickly."

I was searching for explanations, not for additional worries. From the subsequent look on Ikidre's face, however, I knew I had struck a nerve. He became more frantic, tapped on the window, and then tried the door. It was locked. He tried the gate to their backyard, but it was locked too.

"Something must have happened!" he bleated, more anxious than I had ever seen him. "We've got to get inside and make sure everything's alright."

I eyed the massive wooden fence that kept belongings from floating away during floods; it was well over twelve feet tall. I told Ikidre to stand back. After quickly checking to make sure no one else was in the alley who might see, I took a breath, then took off towards the fence. After a few strides, my feet launched me into the air and halfway to the top of the fence. At the apex of the jump, I focused chakra into my foot and released it all in a sudden burst. For a split-second, the air there effectively became solid, and I leapt again from it, now able to land easily on the top of the fence. After scouting for safe landing spots, I dropped into the yard and removed the bar from the gate to admit Ikidre.

It felt surreal, stepping into an unfamiliar yard in the shadow of a strangely empty house. Ikidre approached the back door more confidently; it was clear he had been here many times and probably felt at home. This entrance was unlocked, so we quietly went inside.

Room after room was found dark and tidy. There were no signs that anyone had lived here recently, it seemed. I assumed that they had a maid, that they had just overslept, and told Ikidre as much. He shook his head and whispered back.

"It's never this clean … too peculiar. We should check upstairs."

On our way to the second floor, I summoned my seirei. Though academy students were instructed to no longer treat these phantoms as companions, I still used mine as an extra set of eyes and ears. The small ghostly lizard danced onto the landing alongside me, leaving a golden trail of airglow. I led it one way down the upstairs hallway, while Ikidre went the other way. I began politely knocking on doors, listening for an occupant, then cracking open the door to peer inside. Ikidre was doing the same. Eventually, I came to one end of the hall and went into the bathroom there. This too was strikingly well-kept.

I was about to examine a series of portraits on the wall when I saw, through my seirei's vision, a sudden movement in the hallway behind me. It was Ikidre, bursting backwards through a door. There was a quick, red flash of light that darted toward an open hallway window. It was out and gone before Ikidre hit the ground.

The seirei darted to the window, but already there was no sign of the swift apparition, whatever it had been. I ran to Ikidre, and knelt by him. He appeared to be fine, albeit knocked out. I left him there, slowly rising to my feet to inspect the last few rooms in the house. What attacked Ikidre had to have come from one of the two, but I couldn't find anything as I searched. There was a broom closet and a spare bedroom, both clean and vacant.

My anger was not enough to overwhelm the fear that surged in my stomach. I hated not knowing what it was I had seen, nor what should be done. Hastily I took up Ikidre over my shoulder and left the house, first to get help for my teammate who was unconscious, then to determine what had happened to the one who was missing.


	4. Kino's Special Mission

As I vaulted from rooftop to rooftop, Ikidre began to stir while I carried him on my back. He was mumbling incoherently in my ear by the time I approached the main academy building. There was a moment of panic when I thought perhaps he had suffered permanent brain damage from the strange attack and would act like this indefinitely. My worries quickly faded when I began to distinctly hear girls' names spouted intermittently amidst his blubbering. With a smirk, I carefully deposited Ikidre onto a bench just inside the Academy entrance.

"Minor concussion. He should come around quickly."

I turned to the voice and found myself facing a pair of bright, amber eyes hiding in the thin shadow of whitening hair. Elder lips smiled unassumingly, making the scars covering half of the face wrinkle. I was suddenly staring at my sensei, Hagane Kino.

"S-sensei! We were told you were already on a special mission tonight."

"Excellent!" A trace of relief reinforced Kino's smile. "Then it seems as though the message got to you. When Kokichi-sama gave me my new assignment, I asked that he send you on that scouting mission so you wouldn't be idle with a worrisome situation at hand. I know that you and Ikidre can become restless when told to stay put and be patient."

Kino knew me well. Already the relatively large amount of patience I usually afforded my sensei began to wane. Had Ikidre been conscious, he also would have offered a barrage of questions. I wondered if Kino intentionally omitted Tonbei from his comment.

"Kino-sensei! We went to Tonbei's family—they're gone! And I saw something, a blur, it attacked…" Words came out of my mouth as though I had raced ahead of them on the way to the Academy and they had all now caught up at once. Kino held up a hand and nodded. When his smile faded, I knew he was taking me seriously. "Quiet now, Raika," he said in a low voice. He moved and knelt by Ikidre. "As soon as he comes to, I'll explain everything I know to both of you. We won't have much time to talk, and we'll need to move as quietly as possible."

"'We'?" I asked. "Sensei, where are we going?"

A hint of Kino's smile returned. "To finish my special mission."

My sensei was stern in assuring I heard no more than Ikidre, so he asked me to report the details of what had happened while we waited. Once my teammate had finally reopened his eyes, Kino took a few minutes to make sure nothing had hurt Ikidre in a way that would significantly impair him.

"The itinerants have sighted at least one intruder that appears to be scouting around the village perimeter," explained Kino, once the three of us had gathered ourselves and left the Academy. "The ones who actually saw it reported a large, foreign creature that has lion-like legs, but walks upright like a man. I'm skeptical, but the witnesses also reported that it was wreathed in a red glow."

Ikidre shot me a look as we turned and darted uphill towards the mountain valley. "But then, could it be…"

"Yes, Ikidre," Kino said calmly. "I suspect the 'red blur' that Raika saw attack you was the intruder. We're probably lucky that it simply wanted to escape, rather than to fight you. In fact, part of me was hoping that you'd find something during your temporary mission. Now we know the intruder is still nearby. Kokichi-sama has ordered us to intercept it and subdue it if possible, kill it if necessary."

"Then this intruder must be the one who's kidnapped Tonbei and his family!" I said.

"That's a premature conclusion, even if it is a possibility," cautioned Kino. "It doesn't seem likely to me that the two are related. First of all, Raika reported that the household was very well-kept, showing no signs of struggle. Second, Tonbei has family that tends rice fields in the southern plains and he's mentioned visiting his cousins there in the past. It's possible, since he's been temporarily released on probation, that his family decided to take an unannounced trip."

"But we found the creature _inside _Tonbei's house!" Ikidre blurted. "Maybe it was making the house look like it was undisturbed."

Kino winced in thought. "Again, that's possible, but there are other, simpler explanations. If the intruder wants something inside the village, a vacated house would make a good hiding spot. But if you're right, Ikidre, it would mean we're dealing with a very intelligent sort of creature."

We were shushed moments later, and approached the valley at the top of island's largest hill. I could see most of the village spread out below me to the east, while the north and south rises of rock met closely with the craggy field of tall grass and blue torpetals. Large flat areas were carved at regular intervals into the stone, adorned with aging pillars and towering arches. Most village-wide ceremonies were historically held here, including the appointment of new council members and seirei acquisition.

Kino gave Ikidre and me the signal to spread out. We both summoned our seireis and moved to the mountain ridges on either side of the valley for better vantage points. Kino crept further on into the shadows to investigate the west end of the valley and then subsequently scan that side of the island.

I came to a small alcove where one wall had crumbled away to allow a view of a sliver of forest, which stood just above the village heights. The itinerants had favored the trees as a training ground for academy students. My mind wandered momentarily as I recalled a long history of training sessions with my academy class. Tonbei had been the class clown, finding horribly silly uses for the _henge_ technique, all of them in bad taste. I smiled slowly as my gaze lifted from the forest to the rest of the serene village. Now was an odd time to appreciate the peace with which commoners moved about the streets, or to appreciate the soft lights and curved architecture that characterized most of the village itself, now that I was in the middle of an important mission. But the mission felt secondary; I yawned and dreamt of my village as it used to be, so undisturbed, like a city living within a quiet slumber…

…I became vaguely aware that there was yelling nearby, but this was not as disturbing as the realization that I had fallen asleep, sprawled awkwardly on the rock. I still felt very lethargic, and it was not even midnight! My nap had clearly been unnatural. My waking mind refocused on a second round of yelling: it was coming from the field.

I forced my muscles into action, but they responded slowly. Staggering as though I had just arose from bed after days of rest, I ran my hands along the stone pillars for support, from one to the next. Eventually, I came back to the edge of the mountaintop field, and I saw two figures locked in a grapple. When I saw that Kino was one, my hand dove for my kunai holster and my breath began to quicken. When I saw the second, all this was undone. I gasped, breath held, and the metal kunai clanged onto the stone surface at my feet.

Kino was fighting a monster wreathed in a deadly red aura. From all I could see at my distance, the beast attacked in blurs, and its form was indistinct. I could, however, clearly see moonlight bouncing off of Kino's shoulders and chest as though it were wet. I realized, belatedly, that it was blood. My teacher struggled to free himself from the red creature's frenzy of attacks; they came so quickly, I was sure that the thing must have had several limbs at its disposal. More glinting fluid sprang into the air from Kino's veins at each attack.

And through all this, I stood motionless, horrified.

Suddenly, I lost track of Kino's right arm. I thought at first it must have disappeared, but his move was simply so quick that the monster was unable to avoid it: Kino's arm had landed deep within his enemy's throat. I wanted to look away, for now there seemed to be nothing Kino could do to keep the beast from closing his large maw upon the limb, sundering it utterly. But my attention was frozen along with my body. I couldn't even move my eyes.

The red monster inexplicably kept his mouth open, and Kino appeared to force his arm in further so that all I could see was his shoulder. The large aura around the creature began to flicker erratically, and when it unsuccessfully attempted to writhe out of Kino's hold, then came my realization. Kino was strangling it! For the next torturous minute, I watched the writhing continue and dwindle, until finally the monster lay motionless in a black heap at Kino's feet. The red aura was gone.

Kino stumbled towards me after a moment, his breath coming in ragged gasps. I was finally able to rush forward, and catch my sensei before he collapsed into a torpetal patch. His mesh armor was slick with hot blood. He would be dead if I didn't find help immediately. I shouted frantically, but there was no response. Ikidre was nowhere in sight. For all I knew, the monster had already got to him first.

I struggled to shift Kino onto my back, but my legs gave way, and I felt a great shudder as my entire body began to tremble. Angry tears rose behind my eyes, for I wasn't certain whether I was truly too weak to carry him or whether I had simply been inwardly shaken to the point of incompetence by that dreadful sight from moments ago. I clenched my teeth, closed my eyes, and drove my consciousness into a blank calm.

_Release!_

A powerfully brisk chill ran through every cell in my body as my Initial Gate opened. Strength flooded back into my muscles, and I stood. My mind cleared, the world came into clear focus, and—for the second time that night—I raced back towards the Academy taxed with the weight of a limp body.


	5. Beasts of Chakra

According to the itinerant nurses, "shock" is actually a medical condition that requires much fussing and worrying (though apparently not much actual medicinal treatment). Here I had always thought of it as more of a predictable emotional response. After I had stubbornly waved away a fourth nurse—who insisted I continue to drink my water and stay seated—I saw Ikidre shuffling slowly through the lobby of the Academy's hospital wing. I stood quickly and ran to him.

"You're alright, then?" I pressed. My hand reached and held his arm firmly because, for some reason, I thought it would convince me he was fine.

"Yeah." Ikidre nodded but kept his head low, as though he was embarrassed. "They just said I'd been put under by some ninjutsu or something. First thing I remember is being carried back by a chuunin itinerant."

"I fell asleep, too," I said, trying to ease his apparent shame. It didn't work, and for a moment we both stood silently contemplating our own helplessness during the mission. Neither one of us mentioned Kino, whose fate was being resolved down some nearby corridor. I mimicked Ikidre's posture by lowering my head, but this somehow triggered a wave of dizziness causing me to sway forward and lean hard into him.

"Are _you_ alright?" said Ikidre as he adjusted his footing to support my weight.

Phantom lights plagued my vision for a moment, but I quickly regained my balance and tersely shook my head. "It's nothing. Just a bit of fallout from opening a chakra gate."

"You released a gate?" Ikidre hissed loudly.

I didn't feel like explaining to him that opening a single gate really wasn't a very dangerous action. I respected this difference in our fighting styles; I quickly take advantage of any resource I have, whereas Ikidre is unnecessarily conservative and enjoys using redundant moves. Luckily, an excuse to change the subject came walking towards us from the end of a hallway, but I was startled to see who it was.

"Your sensei is still alive," said Akita Kokichi, the founder of the Hidden Moon. "The doctor estimates a sixty-seven percent chance of satisfactory healing, and only a small possibility of death. This is very good news."

Ikidre and I looked up, both of us frozen in a mix of disbelief and reverence. The news of Kino-sensei's condition seemed less pressing than the very presence of this man. The closest I had ever come to him was at the graduation ceremony a year ago; he had sat halfway across the mountaintop field under a shadowy marquee.

"Unfortunately, I have little time to answer your questions—though I do wish I could spend more time with genin students generally. Our business tonight is urgent," Kokichi-sama continued. "Please accompany me."

There was not enough time for me even to exchange looks with Ikidre before we were out of the hospital foyer and striding through the Academy. Kokichi led us to the highest level where Konoha and Somni guards surrounded the semicircle of an office. While Ikidre seemed to be occupied with the panoramic view afforded by the curving windows, I was rather struck by the disarray inside the room: it was an organizational catastrophe. Small piles of paper occupied most surfaces, though some held maps, diagrams, and instructional models. The floor was shrouded in places by snaking sheets of unrolled scrolls. I gained the impression that there was a certain functionality to the mess, as though information was needed in this room so often that it would be impractical to file it away. I began to wonder, in fact, whether the guards were here to protect, or to ensure that no one attempted to clean up, lest it would render Kokichi-sama unable to find the document he needed.

"Squad dismissed," ordered Kokichi, and the guards descended to a holding area in the stairwell, out of sight.

The head itinerant stepped easily through his cluttered office. I saw the man for a moment as a young boy in his play room, massing his toys in a place he could enjoy them privately. Kokichi-sama seemed indeed quite young to be the founder of anything; he couldn't be more than thirty. As he turned to face Ikidre and me, his eyebrows were raised wickedly under his long black hair and his apprehensive smile was almost childish.

"I have something to show you," he said, and opened a nearby door. "Gather close, please."

As we neared the large desk at the back of the room, Kokichi-sama ducked behind the door for a moment, then returned sliding a large limp form into view. Ikidre and I simultaneously gasped at what appeared to be a mangled body in front of us. I reflexively quelled my reaction, knowing that I was perfectly safe in the company of the most powerful ninja on the island. A sickening sensation crept into my stomach, however, for I soon realized that what I feared Kokichi-sama's creature to be, it was indeed: the hulking monster that had attacked Kino-sensei.

"Describe what you see," said Kokichi-sama.

There wasn't a breath between Ikidre and me. In the moonlight, the blur of red had been an ambiguous menace, frightening in its elusiveness. Now, in the clear light of the office, Kokichi was putting the bare horrors right under our noses.

"Please, don't be shy. Describe what you see. Verbalizing it will help your memory later on," said the enthusiastic itinerant. "You, Juutou. I understand this is your specialty."

Prompted, Ikidre immediately began to stutter. When his brow dropped into furrowed concentration, I knew he had forced himself into his academic mode. "Um. Spiked sagittal c-crest, probably for defense. Cranial c-carapace. T-two extra lower canines … c-carnivorous, I guess. Clawed feet look … really b-broad, maybe bipedal."

The view was too discomforting for me to listen to Ikidre's zoological inventory any longer. "It doesn't have any skin!" I cried.

"It has some," Ikidre murmured. "There, c-covering its feet and … and …"

I could tell he had wanted to say "hands," but instead of fingers, there were three long claws that sprang from each upper appendage. They were coarsely serrated; I cringed imagining the points digging large holes into Kino-sensei, then ripping more flesh on the way back out. Ikidre was correct, of course; crusty layers of leathery material separated all its claws from the rest of its body. The remaining surface was comprised of exposed muscle, of grotesque striations, except where its gaunt skull showed. On either side, its vulture-like eyes—though dead—shone with an eerie and inhuman intelligence.

"Kokichi-sama," I said, becoming slowly more composed before the carcass. "You said 'later on.' Why will we need to know these details?"

The head itinerant smiled. "These creatures are native to my homeland, the Fire Country. They are beasts of chakra. They don't have skin, in fact, because they don't _need_ skin. While alive, they exude a thick, almost tangible layer of energy, and they hunt it, too. Chakra beasts need to feed on other concentrated sources, and unfortunately trained shinobi make excellent targets. For infection, especially."

"Infection?" I stared up at Kokichi-sama. He paused, as though to gauge my readiness, before continuing.

"It is how chakra beasts multiply. They do not procreate; they infect human hosts which then slowly degenerate into crazed monsters, such as this one."

My stare became horrified. Ikidre slumped onto a nearby chair to distance himself from the corpse. Kokichi-sama gave us each a measured glance, then knelt down to inspect the dead beast himself.

"We suspect an enemy village—the Rain, probably—somehow spawned these beasts into our country to weaken our ranks. A cruel but admittedly effective tactic. Depending on the former skills of the host, these beasts can be incredibly difficult to kill. I regret to think that they have been able to migrate all the way across the channel."

"K-Kokichi-sama!" Ikidre abruptly exclaimed, sitting far forward in his chair. "Kino-sensei didn't tell you! Tonbei, his family! Raika saw one, a beast—"

Kokichi-sama held up a quieting hand and nodded quickly. "I already know. And therefore, allow me to be more direct." He shifted the freakish head of the beast under his hand. "You are to remember these details because this is how Yunemusha Tonbei will appear when you find him."


End file.
